The Chicks were sisters Judy and Sue Donaldson. Both
girls were born in Wellington in 1950 and 1952 respectively. They moved to
Auckland at an early age and were brought up on a farm in the Huapai
district. They got their first taste of success at a talent quest in
Napier one Christmas when they were still children singing as the Dots. A
neighbour on the farm was Kevin Borich (later
with the La De Da's) and with him they made a couple of acetates at Ascot
Studios.

Their lucky break came after the family moved to Henderson, when
another neighbour was entertaining, and one of his guests was Peter Posa
and his manager Ron Dalton. After hearing them sing, Ron thought the girls had
some potential and a few weeks later he invited them into the Viking Studio to
make their first real recording, "Heart Of Stone"/"I Want You To
Be My Boy". The session players on that gig were among
the best in Auckland, the Mike Perjanik Band.
It was Mike who gave them their name, the Chicks, and the record was
released on Viking in 1965.

Because they hadn't performed in public, Dalton organised a spot
for them at a teenage dance in Dargaville, to test public reaction. They also
had a spot on the TV show "On The Beat Side", where they sang their
second single "Hucklebuck", which was released with "Looking For
The Right Guy" on the reverse in 1965.

In August 1965, the were support act on a tour featuring Sandi
Shaw, the Pretty Things and Eden Kane. Following that there
was another tour with Tommy Adderley and Dinah
Lee.

Two more singles were released in 1965, "Do You Want To
Dance" with Peter Posa, coupled with "Terry" and
"Java Jones"/"He's My Guy". It was time
to release their first album and this was called "The Sound Of The Chicks".

1966 saw the Chicks appearing on TV in "A Swinging
Safari" and more tours with the likes of P J Proby. Another single
for Viking "Cumala Be Stay"/"Be Bop A Lula" and then one
single on Impact "Tweedle Dee"/"Rebel Kind". In 1967 a visit
to Australia gave them guest spots on TV shows over there. Two singles were
recorded on Festival "You Won't Forget Me"/"Gotta See My Baby
Every Day" and "What Am I Doing Here With You"/"River Deep
Mountain High" in 1967 and 1968 before the girls joined the team on TV's
"C'Mon". This show ran for 26 weeks, thereby cutting out much of their
live work because of its heavy schedule.

Three singles for Polydor were released during 1969, "Say A
Prayer For Michael"/"Society's Child", "Miss You
Baby"/"Are You Sure" and "Stoney End"/"Get
Ready-Uptight". They also signed to a new manager that year and he tried to
steer them into the more sophisticated adult-orientated cabaret scene. This was
not successful and in 1970 they split up while under the management of Ray
Columbus, with their last single being "I Will See You
There"/"Long Time Comin'".

During their time 1965 to 1970, they also had 3 EP's and 6
albums released. After the breakup Judy married Ross Hindman from the Rumour
and settled down to raise a family, not
before recording one solo single on Philips called "Heaven Is The
Place"/"I Can Hear The Picture" in 1970 and Sue went solo under
the name Suzanne.